Seasonal hiring numbers still on the upswing

This year's holiday hiring season shows more hopeful signs: some South Florida stores adding more positions while others at the very least hiring as many seasonal workers as they did last year. A report released in September by the Chicago-based hiring consultancy firm Challenger Gray & Christmas predicted slightly higher seasonal hiring this year than last. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Rick Scott at Midterm Between his first and second budgets, Scott’s priorities, core convictions and management style changed little if at all. He had clearly gained, however, an appreciation for the need to cater to appearances as he governed. » Rick Scott at Midterm

Florida ranks 3rd for most veteran-owned businesses

Florida ranks third for the most veteran-owned businesses, according to a report from U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy. The Sunshine State has 176,727 veteran-owned businesses with revenue of $61.9 billion. Of these, 35,548 provide jobs for 310,154 people with an annual payroll of $10.6 billion. [Source: South Florida Business Journal]

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New program empowers women in tech startups

The hot new field of technology startups faces a distressing problem: Women are so underrepresented in these companies’ leadership ranks that less than 10 percent of venture-backed startups are headed by women. Next week, 55 women will emerge from a new program, Empowering Women in Technology Startups, or eWiTS, ready to change these statistics — and the world. [Source: UF News]

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» FRIDAY PREVIEW: Coming next week to FloridaTrend.com:

• Growth Opportunities in Florida Agriculture: Florida growers and ranchers say market conditions are better but still off the peak.
• Medicaid Fraud in Florida: Investigating financial fraud, abuse and neglect.
• Florida Icon: Thomas 'Blue' Fulford
• Second Helpings: Most successful chefs and restaurateurs today are inveterate tinkerers.

» You'll find all these stories first on the Daily and Afternoon Pulse e-mails.

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Out of the Box Vast Broadway costume collection on display at Florida museum Box by box they arrived, the once glittering costumes of Broadway legends and theatre memorabilia, now dirty, tattered and forgotten. There were painstakingly hand-beaded bodices and garments worn by Julie Andrews, Carol Burnett and Vanessa Williams, each more unkempt than the next, stored on rusty hangars and covered in black soot. It was to be one of the largest collections of Broadway costumes in the country. » Full story from the Associated Press » Costume World official site » Costume World Facebook page